Aria was not convinced about spending more time on her clan, even if Aster probably solved the debt his father had, she still hated the guts of the first elder for all the times he has tried to force her into the arms of the Rein family, and even if they were afraid of Aster now, she knew they will not leave her in peace for too long.
Alice knew that Aster was trying to progress with Aria so she decided to help him this time.
“If you are still worried, why don’t you live on the room next to the one we are staying so my brother can keep an eye on you, it’s not like you have anything else to do and you are going to spend the whole day with us anyway”.
Aster gave Alice thumps up on his mind, “nice one sis”.
Aria considered it for a moment and she decided to accept Alice’s idea if she was going to reveal herself as the owner of the inn having Aster at her side at all times made her feel safe.
“Fine no more disguises but I still believe it is not a good idea”.
Aster decided to give her a final push.
“Worst case scenario you can stay in my room I would like to see someone with enough guts to dare and break in my own room”.
He decided to set up the barrier that Lilia gave him so he would not have to worry about someone breaking in.
“S..stay in your room!!”, Aria imagined herself sleeping in the same bed as Aster and she blushed, then as she realized something she turned to see Aster and asked.
“Wait now that I think about it there is only one bed on the room so where is Alice sleeping?”.
Alice smiled and said in a suggestive tone while she hugged Aster’s arm.
“Of course, I sleep with my brother on the same bed ♥”.
Aria was shocked.
“Y…you what?”.
Alice laughed, “hehehe feeling jealous?”.
Aria knew that Aster was not as innocent as he looked so she felt somewhat suspicious about them sharing a bed.
“Humph, why should I be jealous of you its not like you can do anything with him anyway”.
Aster felt that Alice was revealing a bit too much so he interrupted before things got hairy.
“Ahem, how about we eat now, before anything else happens?”.
Aria nodded and the three of them started eating the food which consisted on the meat of a spirit beast seasoned with a special sauce, mashed potatoes and a piece of bread, Alice really enjoyed the food from the fragrant pavilion to the point where she asked Aria to order more for the dinner.
Once they finished Aria left the room to speak with her father before they returned to the inn, when Aster saw her leaving, he glanced at Alice and then he spanked her ass.
“¡¡¡Hiiiinng!!! ♥”.
“She is enjoying it a bit too much” Aster thought after hearing his sister’s reaction, he wondered if maybe she liked when he was a bit rough with her.
“You naughty girl, do you want Aria to find out about us?”.
Alice kissed her brother and then she gave him a pitiful look while rubbing her face against him.
“Don’t be angry I just wanted to brag a bit, and besides I got her to live close to us don’t you think I deserve a reward for that ♥”.
Aster could only sigh, she indeed helped him this time.
“I guess you indeed helped me on that but still you know that she might start suspecting after realizing we sleep on the same bed, right?”.
Alice didn’t seem to be a worried about that when she replied.
“Hehehe not that it really matters, after all she is already tied to my beloved brother, isn’t she? and it is better if she gets used to the fact that we are closer than normal siblings anyway”.
Aster could only shake his head, “so that was your real objective” he thought, hearing someone approaching the room they decided to finish the discussion for now.
Aria opened the door and she told Aster that they could go now that she has spoke with Arthur, the three left the Ghale family mansion and this time Aster noticed that the guards bowed their heads when they saw Aria so he supposed that the whole family heard about him threatening the first elder, which made every person that has treated Aria without respect to be afraid of possible retaliation now that she had found someone to rely on.
Aster didn’t care about the guards, hell he even didn’t care about the first elder so he did not try to look for troubles with simple guards, after walking for some time they reached the inn and Aria saw her uncle waiting for her, she approached him and told him everything that had happened on the clan, the old manager was happy knowing that his niece would not need to disguise herself anymore and he was surprised when he heard how Aster dealt with the first elder and no one dared to step in for him.
Aria went to her office to get her things as she will be moving to the room 104 and her uncle asked Aster to come a moment with him, Alice went ahead and returned to the room while he followed the manager to his office, once they entered Aster saw the old man bowing his head.
“Please accept this old man gratitude, from what I heard from you, helping Aria might not be something hard to do… but for me it is a debt that I will not be able to repay in my lifetime, if you ever need something from this old man don’t hesitate to ask”.
Aster felt respect for this old man, even if he was not a cultivator, he helped Aria as much as he could, compared to the rest of the people that were supposed to be her family this old man acted like a real family member for Aria.
Aster helped him to raise his head.
“Please raise your head uncle, I Aster have only done what a man should do when the girl he likes is in trouble so there is no need for you to be this formal with me, in fact since you are one of the few people that Aria consider family, I should be the one thanking you for taking care of her all this time.
Sebastian Griffin was happy for his niece; this world was a really cruel one where even family would be tempted to betray each other just for benefits, everyone can say things like “I will protect you” or “I like you” but when the time of truth arrives, they are usually the first to chicken out so for a girl to find someone that truly cared for her was quite rare.
“I’m sure that if Aina were still with us she would be happy to see that Aria met someone like you, I might not be in the position to request anything but please treat her well… she has smiled more in the few days that has spend with you than on the past 10 years of her life”.
Aster nodded, “rest assured uncle, now that I’m here she will no longer need to worry about anything”, he then handed a contact talisman to Sebastian.
“If someone comes to cause troubles you can contact me with this”, the old man took the talisman and kept it on his spatial ring, Aster said goodbye and returned to his room where Alice was already waiting for him but what he did not expect was to see Aria on the room.
Aria’s face turned red remembering that Aster wanted her to live with him but she just got rid of that dangerous thought and told him.
“I just want to play domino with you, I already moved my things to the next room so…”.
She was sitting on the corner of the bed while Alice was lying in the middle, Aster suddenly had a good idea so he just walked over with a cunning smile on his face.